Textbook

Research in the Cloud: An Introduction to Modern Methods in Behavioral Science

I wrote this book with Leib Litman and Jonathan Robinson because we wanted a better way to teach research methods — one where students actually do research, not just read about it.

The book has two parts. Part I covers the fundamentals: scientific reasoning, measurement, descriptive and correlational methods, causal inference, experimental design, and the emerging role of AI in research. Part II is a guide to conducting online research. It covers where to find participants, how to protect data quality, how to design surveys that work, and how to write about what you find.

What makes the book different is the approach. Every chapter includes hands-on projects where students design studies, work with or collect real data, and analyze results using the same tools working researchers use. We think this is the best way to learn research methods, and it's a lot more fun to teach.

The book is open access and published by Cambridge University Press. That means it's free for students and teachers. We expect the official version from Cambridge in summer 2026. In the meantime you can find a full preview on the CloudResearch site. 

For Teachers

The book comes with all kinds of resources meant to make adopting it easier. We've created lecture slides, datasets, video tutorials, and step-by-step instructions for every project. If you're interested in using it for your course, you can explore the chapters or download the resources here.